Figure 3.

Knockdown of Neat1 inhibited HSC proliferation and collagen expression. (a) HSCs were treated with transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 (10.0 ng/mL) for 24 h. The relative expression level of the lncRNA Neat1 was analyzed. (b) HSCs stimulated with TGF-β1 were assigned to the (i) negative control group (untransfected cells), (ii) shCtrl group (cells infected with a lentivirus containing the scrambled shRNA) or (iii) shNeat1 group (cells infected with a lentivirus containing the Neat1 shRNA). The relative Neat1 expression level was reduced in the shNeat1 group. (c) HSC proliferation was measured using the EdU assay. (d) The expression of the α-SMA and type I collagen proteins in HSCs was detected using western blotting. (e-f) Immunofluorescence staining for α-SMA (red) (e) and type I collagen (green) (f) was evaluated using a fluorescence microscope. DAPI-stained nuclei are indicated in blue. Scale bar, 40 μm. N = 3; **P< 0.01, compared with negative control group